NHL Rumors: Pittsburgh Penguins – Reilly Smith and Jake Guentzel
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Pittsburgh Penguins forward Reilly Smith has been generating a lot of trade interest

Daily Faceoff: Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli on the interest that Pittsburgh Penguins forward Reilly Smith is getting.

** NHLRumors.com transcription

Yaremchuk: “Why do you have Riley Smith ahead of (Jake) Guentzel on this list?

Seravalli: “Because sources indicate the Pittsburgh Penguins have received more interest and more teams interested so far in Reilly Smith than Jake Guentzel. Surprised? Maybe you shouldn’t be. It’s not because of Guentzel’s injury, it’s just because Smith is not a rental. He has one year left on his deal next year at 5 million bucks and he hasn’t been a fit in Pittsburgh. Let’s not get this twisted.

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But he is someone that was a huge playoff contributor to the Vegas Golden Knights last year. And someone that I think a lot of teams believe that they could rehab, particularly if the Pittsburgh Penguins are willing to retain half on Smith to juice a return.

So maybe that opens up a door that they get a haul for Smith and maybe roll the dice and keep Guentzel. I’d still be surprised if that’s the case but the Guentzel transaction isn’t necessarily cut and dry either. They should be asking for an absolute haul for him because of him being the most impactful forward on our board and north of a point-per-game and four of the last five seasons.

So all that to say Smith is certainly in demand from the Penguins and they’re in a spot now in the standings where they probably can’t ignore some of those calls.

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